Construction equipment and building materials machinery: grief and joy in the middle of the year

August 2011 Frankfurt - Germany's companies in the construction equipment and building materials machinery industry are highly diversified year-on-year. Some companies recorded new highs in 2007/2008, and some companies fell into recession.

However, due to the good development of construction equipment - the income of the whole industry increased by 10% at the beginning of the year, VDMA (German Federation of Machinery and Equipment Manufacturers) expects the actual income of the whole industry will be higher. In 2010, the German construction equipment and building materials machinery industry achieved record sales of 10.6 billion euros. Among them, the construction equipment industry reached 6.3 billion euros, and the building materials, glass and ceramics machinery industry reached 4.3 billion euros.

In the first half of 2011, sales of construction equipment was the average of the past seven years, but it was still 38% lower than the highest value in 2008. Sales of building materials machinery is 11% higher than the average, but 28% lower than the highest value. Dr. Christof Kemman, chairman of the VDMA Construction Equipment and Building Materials Machinery Association, said at a recent board meeting in Schrobenhausen: “Although some sectors are profitable, they should not be overly optimistic.” The debt crisis in Europe and the United States and the turmoil in the Arab world will give the future There is a lot of uncertainty. The tremendous growth capacity in the boom era has not been fully realized.

Earlier, performance incentives mainly came from Germany. However, the development of the German domestic market is also very good, and the growth rate of orders and sales is higher than other countries. Demand for the entire industry was strong in 2010, but it was temporarily stagnant in the first quarter of 2011. Sebastian Popp, an economist on VDMA construction equipment and building materials machinery, said: “The decline in the new orders indicates that the economic recovery has stopped or points to a new shift. It is too early to define it now.” Because of the large fluctuations in demand, companies should be highly flexible. Deal with production, do not reach the limit. ”

Manufacturers are more concerned with suppliers struggling with fluctuations. Companies in the industry have said that there are bottlenecks in the delivery of parts and components, and there are also problems with the quality of suppliers. In addition, rising prices are not credible.

The construction equipment industry has the most intense competition for construction equipment. The economy of concrete projects this year is particularly weak. With the exception of important markets in North America, South Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, the rest are very slow. Only India’s economic development has been very good and losses have been compensated. Tower crane sales are still poor. Only the sales of construction lifts were not bad. The growth in the first half of this year was significant. The only negative impact comes from North America, where the outlook is less promising, and the North American market is a very important market in the industry.

Earthmoving, civil engineering and tunnel excavation equipment According to reports from the earth-moving equipment manufacturers, the development trends in Germany and overseas markets are all very good, especially in Asian countries, Russia and South America. Although the final demand has once again declined, the industry is still in a good trend. Special civil engineering equipment currently lags behind. Demand has reached relatively low levels in 2009 and development has been slow. The two most promising markets are Russia and the United States. Because of the long-term nature of the industry, tunnel excavation equipment has a low volatility, so it continues to maintain moderate growth and a good level of demand.

Road construction equipment Road construction equipment manufacturers say the current demand growth is fastest. The only industry that lags behind is the asphalt mixer. Like ground equipment, demand declined slightly. Therefore, manufacturers hope that growth will be slow in 2012. Both the Chinese and Indian markets are growing, and both the United States and the Middle East have continued to grow. The growth of Scandinavia in Europe is good.

Cement, lime and gypsum equipment and processing equipment The cement industry has continued to be weak and therefore has not provided any incentives for equipment and machinery manufacturers. On the other hand, the prospects of suppliers of raw material extraction machines and processing machines are still very optimistic. By the end of the year, sales growth in the industry may reach double digits. Despite the recent turmoil, the most attractive market is still North Africa. In addition, the incentives are all from Asia, and not just China and India.

After the concrete brick and slag machine experienced a weak period in 2010, the growth of concrete brick machinery was evident. It is expected that the sales growth of the industry may reach double digits compared to the previous year. Now that the order volume is very large, there should be a good start in 2012. The most promising markets are in Asia, especially China and India. Despite the economic crisis, growth in the CIS countries is still very good. There is still no North American sales market. In addition, companies in the Middle East and North Africa have begun to feel pressure.